Body Part Terms in Linguistic Usage: A Comparative and Typological Perspective
Venue: University of Warsaw
Time: December 8-9, 2017
Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, invites submission of abstracts for an international workshop to be held at the University of Warsaw, Poland. Each paper will be given 30 minutes, including 10 minutes for discussion.
The embodied character of language is supported by research in semantics and cultural studies, but also by empirical evidence coming from neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, anthropology, biosemiotics, neurology, and other sciences. Body-related lexicon is highly polysemous and easily extends onto other domains in numerous figurative senses. Transfers of body part terms share a number of cross-linguistic tendencies in the domain of grammaticalization, emotions, reasoning and social interactions, and figurative senses of body part terms often coincide in numerous unrelated languages of the world. The bodily lexicon also constitutes a good source for extension of truly culture-specific, highly unpredictable senses and idiomatic expressions.
The workshop aims at a close examination of body part terms from the comparative perspective of unrelated, geographically distant and culturally differentiated languages. It will contribute to research on linguistic embodiment, but also to investigation of more general issues, such as studies on metaphor and metonymy, polysemy and representation of a lexical category, regularity of semantic change and cognitive universals, as well as problems of language-culture connection.
We invite papers which focus on one specific language or comparative/typological studies. Possible topics to be covered include:
- coding and categorization of body parts
- polysemy and semantic change of body part terms
- conceptualization processes (metaphor, metonymy) via body parts
- expressing emotional concepts through their “embodiment”
- grammaticalization processes
- usage patterns of constructed senses
- corpus studies of body part terms (e.g. frequency, collocations)
- compounding and noun incorporation
- “special” syntax (e.g. inalienable possession, use of pronouns)
- morphological derivation and semantic autonomy
- language-culture issues and idiomatic constructions
Scientific committee
- Alexandra Aikhenvald (James Cook University, Australia)
- Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (University of Warsaw, Poland)
- Helma Pasch (University of Cologne, Germany)
- Izabela Will (University of Warsaw, Poland)
- Beata Wójtowicz (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Invited Keynote Speakers
- Zygmunt Frajzyngier (University of Colorado, USA)
- Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (University of Lodz, Poland)
- Helma Pasch (University of Cologne, Germany)
- Ning Yu (Pennsylvania State University, USA)
Organizing committee
- Iwona Kraska-Szlenk
- Izabela Will
- Ahmad Shehu
contact: conf.orient@uw.edu.pl
Workshop program
Friday, December 8th, 2017 (Ballroom Hall, Tyszkiewicz-Potocki Palace)
9.30 – 10.00 Registration
10.00 – 10.30 Opening Speeches (Dean of Oriental Faculty Prof. Piotr Taracha, Organizers)
10.30 – 11.15 Keynote Speaker
Ning Yu, Pennsylvania State University
Linguistic Embodiment in Linguistic Experience
11.15 – 11.30 Coffee Break
11.30 – 12.00
Felix Ameka, Leiden University
“Heart die me.”: ethno-theories and linguistic embodiment of feelings
12.00 – 12.30
Iwona Kraska-Szlenk, University of Warsaw
Towards a semantic lexicon of body part terms
12.30 – 13.00
Mi-Hyun Kim, Université de Lorraine – Nancy
Contrastive Lexicology of Korean, French and English Body Element Nouns
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.30
Judit Baranyiné Kóczy, Széchenyi István University
Keeping an eye on body parts: Conceptualizations of the ‘eye’ in Hungarian
14.30 – 15.00
Melike Baş, Amasya University
The metaphoric conceptualization of speech organs in Turkish
15.00 – 15.30
Sanja Kiš Žuvela, Zagreb University,
Body-Part Terms in Musical Discourse
15.30 – 15.45 Coffee Break
15.45 – 16.30 Keynote Speaker
Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, University of Lodz/State University of Applied Sciences in Konin
Polysemy chains, embodiment and body parts
16.30 – 17.00
Awadh G. Baawaidhan, University of Lodz, Poland, Linguistic Analysis of Body part Metaphor Conceptualization from Cognitive Perspective
18.00 Dinner
Saturday, December 9th, 2017 (Ballroom Hall, Tyszkiewicz-Potocki Palace)
10.00 – 10.45 Keynote Speaker
Zygmunt Frajzyngier, University of Colorado
What the grammaticalization of ‘head’ reveals about the semantic structure of a language: A case study in four Chadic languages
10.45 – 11.15
Stéphane Robert, CNRS-LLACAN and INALCO
On the grammaticalization of the HEAD in Wolof: from reflexivity to topicality
11.15 – 11.30 Coffee Break
11.30 – 12.00
Kasia Wojtylak, James Cook University
Grammaticalization of body part terms in Murui
12.00 – 12. 30
Kyung Eun Park, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Grammaticalization of Body Part Terms: Study on the grammaticalization of main body part terms in Thai in comparison to Korean
12.30 – 13.00
Ahmadu Shehu, University of Warsaw
Grammaticalization of body part terms in Fulfulde
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.30
Marcin Kuczok, University of Silesia
Between the body and the soul: the semantics of English blood and Biblical Hebrew דָּ ם (dam)
14.30 – 15.00
Abinet Sime Gebreyes, Mekelle University
Semantics of Oromo Body-Part Terms
15.00 – 15.30
Izabela Will, University of Warsaw
Embodied conceptualization – relation between gesture and speech in Hausa
15.30 – 15. 45 Coffee Break
15.45 – 16.30 Keynote Speaker
Helma Pasch, University of Cologne
Body part metaphors as devices to form words, to create stylistic expressions and to shape grammar
General discussion
